FSU Safety Coordinator Helps Prohibit Hoverboards On Campus

Frostburg State University is now restricting the use of operating and housing hoverboards on campus due to recent safety concerns that have been shown in the media and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) until further notice. Lawrence Gingerich, Safety and Sustainability Coordinator at FSU takes primary responsibility for creating this new policy against hoverboards and notes that he is the “safety guy” on campus..

Due to recent events in the media regarding hoverboards’ spontaneous combustion and safety concerns by the CPSC, Gingerich stands by his decision to prohibit them on campus.

“I think it was the right thing to ban hoverboards,” Gingerich said. “If you look up the Consumer Product Safety Commission, you will find many warnings about hoverboard use and for that matter, nonuse because they can catch fire when you are not around but charging them. So it could present an exceptional hazard to other students in a dormitory building.”

While Gingerich currently stands by his decision to prohibit hoverboards on campus, he is still open to reconsidering his decision if students present information that supports the idea that hoverboards are completely safe.

“Students would have to show me evidence that hoverboards are completely safe,” he said. “And evidence as a class, or in other words, as a whole group because there may be hoverboards out there that are completely safe, but the jury is still out on that.

According to the CPSC, there are currently between 15 different hoverboard models being tested for safety, but the results of the testing have yet to be released.

Gingerich also pointed out the need for hoverboards to be approved as a whole unit and not as component parts.

“The problem is let’s say I buy a reputable  brand and it’s UL approved, it would still need to be approved as a unit and not component parts,” Gingerich said. “Also, how would we know if a hoverboard is a UL approved hoverboard or not? So it is easier to ban them as a class because it’s just easier to control.”

While all on campus students who live in dormitories will not be able to freely have hoverboards in their housing units, Gingerich admits that it will be harder to regulate off campus students who possess hoverboards.

Additionally, Gingerich points out that, to his knowledge, FSU has not had to confiscate any boards yet, but the school cannot control the regulation of hoverboards for people in off campus housing. However, he adds that if off campus students bring hoverboards on campus in academic buildings or house them in an on campus building the school can restrict the device.

With the introduction of this new ban on hoverboards, Gingerich also realizes the importance of spreading awareness to students on campus early on in the year.

“This new policy would have to be something that would probably be announced during the RA meetings and so on, “Gingerich said. “Like during the beginning of school when the resident assistants come in for their briefing and maybe another announcement in the spotlight or what have you. Just to notify students that hoverboards are banned until we understand more about them.”

When hearing about the banning of hoverboards at FSU, junior Marguerita Macharia supported Gingerich’s decision to restrict hoverboards on campus.

“I feel like the school made the right decision because hoverboards are a potential fire hazard to students, and if you keep up with the news on television you will see that they have a tendency to combust out of nowhere when they are left unattended,” she said.

While students might question why skateboards are still allowed on campus when they share the similar risk of hazard to students, Gingerich states that the fire hazard associated with the hoverboard devices remains the primary reason for the banning.

“I am primarily concerned about the fire standpoint because from a hazard point-of-view they are not safe, but, at least, a skateboard is not endangering a dormitory filled with students,” Gingerich said. “I mean there are skateboards allowed on campus, but remember a skateboard doesn’t combust! You would have to be going awful fast for that to happen.”

Gingerich later wrote an email to The Bottom Line, clarifying that students may possess a skateboard on campus, but may not use the skateboard on campus or in its building. “I do NOT want to convey the thought that skateboarding is permissible on the FSU Campus, it is not,” he wrote. “Hover Boards, however, are banned from the FSU campus and its buildings. No one on campus can have/possess a hover board or use it while on the FSU campus.”